Saint-Marcellin is a name for a French cheese from the Dauphiné.

It is a small cheese made from cow's milk, with a soft rind and an average weight of 80 grams. It is produced with milk from 300 municipalities in Isère, Drôme and Savoie. The first historical mentions of Saint-Marcellin date from the 15th century when it was found on the table of King Louis XI of France (1461-1483).

Originally it was made with goat's milk, but from 1730, the regulation on goat breeding for a rapid reforestation of the countryside has resulted in a decrease of the herds and cow's milk begins to compensate for the lacks.One fine day of the year 1447, gone hunting in the forest of Lente, in the Drôme, the Dauphin Louis, future Louis XI, is attacked by a bear.

Two lumberjacks (Richaud and Bouillane) come to the rescue of the unfortunate man and kill the bear. To recover from their emotions, they share bread and cheese. In gratitude, the Dauphin promised to ennoble the two woodcutters (which was done) and a reward of 10,000 ecus each.

The Saint-Marcellin thus entered into history, as well as into the accounts of the intendance of the king of France. After milking, the milk can be left at a temperature of 20 to 22 degrees for about two hours, in order to mature the ferments in the milk, and then the milk is curdled in order to turn it into a solid state.

The milk is then kept for about twenty hours in a warm room, before being put into molds, small containers with holes 8 centimeters in diameter and 9 centimeters high. The production of a Saint-Marcellin requires 0.7 liter of cow's milk.

Once the whey is evacuated, after the molding, a first turning is done after about six hours of rest, then a first salting. A second turning is done after a new rest of about six hours, then a salting of the other side, before leaving the cheeses to rest for a dozen hours in their cases.

Then the cheeses are removed from the moulds and placed on grids in a hot room to allow the moulds to develop for 24 hours, then they are placed in a dryer at 16 degrees with a humidity of 75%. After 24 hours, the Saint-Marcellin cheese becomes runny and after 48 hours, the Saint-Marcellin cheese becomes a little firmer. The cheeses are then placed in a ripening room for the maturing phase. They start to turn "blue" after one week and to turn yellow after three weeks.

The cheeses then have a little more flora on the surface and are more mature and creamy.